The diamond drill. (Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich.) 1887-1996, 1887-07-02

Besides these cnnlnaIled i,ience1, tno
excavations of the palaces ~ Darius
brought "a light fragments 81 sculpture
on tcrrn-cotta Of very peculiar
character They are neither painted
nor enamelled; their elementary forms
have entirely lost any conventional
character: aud the casc..sbic Of the base
relief Is modelled with surprising skill
and ability. although the subjects are
borrowed from the fantastic fauna of
Chaldna. Here il was wild beast
like those which are reproduced on
the bass-rclefs of Perseliolis; there u
was bull represented in profile. and
nevertheless with two divergent horns.
These animals were snrrotdided ~
frleze covered with q cunclform text
engraved by hand on TIE edge OF the
bricks. some of the inscriptions are
I'm Persian; Others. written in Assyran
cnrsive characters. have some con-
nection with Susian texts Of the eighth
or ninth century u. G.
Although the palace Of Darius has
hitherto furnished only magn:hccnt
frn9ments of It's decoration. the plan
of the ediiices which In the time OF
ArtaxerNes crowned the Achmmeni-
lran tumulus j. now known; we can
| even reconstitlte the Apadana IN us
| general aspect and its details. The
/ buildings rose on an almost rcctangu-
| lar platform sixty feet high, SUR
rounded on the east and west by forii-
fcntions. The summit of the northern
dcfcnscs, terminating just at the level
of the platform OF the palace, allowed
the exc 10 embrace the whole chain 81
the bakhtyaris Mountains. the plain.
and the town Of Susa. The southern
front formed one OF the sides OF the IN
terror court comprised between the
citadel and the Elamltc tunulus. The.
grand entrance To this court was sit
uated in the axis of the palace, 70 the
soath and at the foot OF the walls ot
citadel. Without concerning myself
with the lateral constructions, pass
through the gate aud proceed toward
the palace of ArtaNerxes, In front OF
me i gigantic stairway between two
towers, which form part of the system
Of Notifications ] admire the enam-
clled hand-rail | mount the steps, SO
easy that they might be mounted on
horseback, and reach the outer court,
bounded ON the east aud west by the
rnmparts. Porticoes supported W
pillars and decorated with fantastic
animals occupy the middle OF the
wings: facing the stairway u an open
ng thanked BY two pylones, faced with
white and rose mosaic, and surmonntoo
by magnificent procession OF ennm'
elled lions. Before crossing the
! threshold of the inner court pcrcelvt
the thronc-rOom.
The thronc-room was isolated from
all the surrounding constructions on
{ the south by the inner court, ON th'
: north. the east, and the west by gen
: tie sloping road reserved for the roya
: chariots, which mounted there from
: the plain to the top of the platform
The three colonnades of the palace
: and their blcephalous capitals escape
4 the view of visitors. unless they caugh
! a glimpse of them through the lar~
> openings placed at their eNtremities
i For that matter they had full lcisur
G To admire the elegance and the maJest
= before penetrating into the royal pre-
cincts, inasmuch a. the throne-rooi
:. dominated with It's whole height tn
i forticatons ON the north. In the tim
y IF Darius the walls must have bee
n adorned with professions Of warriors
i aud with endless inscriptions,
y Madame Jane DiculdJoy. "a Harper
10 Magazine.